Both sides of the debate
Choosing the best material to cover the backside of a module has long been a contentious issue, and the rise of bifacial technology has brought further complexity to the debate. With transparent backsheet materials quickly making their way to market, the Intersolar Europe edition of the Quality Roundtable event series sought to bring some clarity to the rear side of modules, and illuminate some of the issues that can occur in the field – both with glass-glass and glass-backsheet modules.
VPPs as congestion buster
Two related challenges have become barriers to increasing penetration levels for rooftop solar: the hosting capacity of the grid, and the need to maintain stability during periods of peak demand. The Future PV Roundtable, held alongside The smarter E event in Munich, looked at how distributed energy resources such as PV and battery storage, along with demand-side flexibility, can help to meet these challenges – all thanks to VPPs.
Avoid premature weathering of buried string cables
Faults in underground cabling due to moisture ingress and weathering have been identified as the culprit in many cases of underperforming solar plants, even when the materials used were specified as suitable for underground installation. The topic of cables struck a nerve during this year’s pv magazine Quality Roundtable at The smarter E Europe event, and the right way to lay buried string cables is still an open question.
Floating PV – niche market or transformative disruptor?
Why on earth would you want to install PV on water? There seem to be plenty of safer sites for solar PV on solid ground or stable rooftops. Nicolas Choleur of Everoze highlights the key requirements for the bankability of floating PV, right through the project life cycle, from development to dismantling.
Pushing sustainability UP the agenda
As pv magazine’s UP campaign aims to place sustainability issues at the forefront of the solar industry, we take a look at the current situation and the programs, incentives and regulations that are in operation worldwide to promote responsibility in the design, operation and disposal of PV systems.
Inverter issues
PVEL’s inaugural inverter scorecard is showing up the need for much more scrutiny on the reliability of inverters. But are developers and EPCs even paying attention?
Brazil’s faltering manufacturing ambition
A binational integrated solar industry project, announced just over a year ago, aims to build a vertically integrated solar manufacturing industry along the border between Brazil and Paraguay. But the project is now on hold pending an update and reassessment by its new managers.
‘It simply favors the economics of the projects’
Ahead of pv magazine’s Quality Rountable at Intersolar South America, Kaushik Roy Choudhury, senior scientist for DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials, offered insight into some of the quality issues that are affecting the growth of PV in Latin America, and other matters that will be up for discussion in São Paolo.
pv magazine test: June 2019 results
We are happy to present the next batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. The June 2019 results are presented below, plus additional analysis from George Touloupas, director of technology and quality at CEA.
Chile taps ‘white gold’ for security of energy supply
Chile is home to a massive 10.3 million tons of lithium reserves, most of which is found in the Atacama Desert in the northern part of the country. With some of the highest solar irradiation levels on Earth, this region also boasts the perfect conditions for generating solar power. Developments in the photovoltaic market, alongside implementation of more efficient energy storage systems, are positioning Chile as a regional leader in this field. So what does the future hold for battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Chile, and what obstacles lie in their way?
